Food Container

ABSTRACT

A food container includes a glass container, a lid and a protective sleeve. The sleeve covers at least a portion of the side walls and bottom surface of the glass container. The lid has a perimeter that is absent of securing features for the container. The lid has a receiving feature which is engaged by a latch on the protective sleeve when the latch is moved from an open position to a locked position.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/902,660, filed on May 24, 2013 and entitled “Food Container”; whichclaims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/773,129,filed Mar. 5, 2013 and entitled “Food Container,” all of which arehereby incorporated by reference for all purposes.

BACKGROUND

Food containers are used for many purposes, such as for storing food ina refrigerator or freezer, cooking in a microwave or oven, serving, andtransporting food items. Thus, food containers must be able to withstandvarious environments while also being durable enough for daily use.Plastic materials are often used for food containers because of theirlow-cost and lightweight characteristics. However, many plasticmaterials can leach unsafe chemicals into food, particularly whenexposed to heat such as in cooking or being placed in a dishwasher.Thus, there is a continued need to provide durable and safe foodcontainers.

SUMMARY

A food container includes a glass container, a lid and a protectivesleeve. The sleeve covers at least a portion of the side walls andbottom surface of the glass container. The lid has a perimeter that isabsent of securing features for the container. The lid has a receivingfeature which is engaged by a latch on the protective sleeve when thelatch is moved from an open position to a locked position.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a food container;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the container of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a top view of the food container of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 provides a vertical cross-sectional view of the food container ofFIG. 1, with latches unlocked;

FIG. 5 provides a vertical cross-sectional view of the food container ofFIG. 1, with latches in a locked position;

FIG. 6 is a side view of the container of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 provides a perspective view of the food container of FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a bottom view of an embodiment of the food container of FIG.1;

FIG. 9 shows a side view of another embodiment of a food container; and

FIG. 10 is a top perspective view of the food container of FIG. 9.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

With growing awareness around the dangers of plastic, consumers areseeking out safer materials to store items that they ingest such as foodand drink. One such safer material is glass; however, glass can be proneto breaking when dropped. Consequently, glass is a strong materialaround the house but has limited effectiveness when being moved todifferent locations. In this disclosure, a food container is describedthat enables consumers to use glass food storage products on the go byproviding a protective layer to prevent breakage. The protective layeris a sleeve that surrounds the outer surface of a glass article, such asdescribed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2009/0057257, published Mar. 5,2009, which is hereby incorporated by reference. The container also hasa lid to cover the top of the container, where latches on the sleeve areable to secure the lid by engaging receiving features on either side ofthe lid. This provides a secure closure to prevent leaking. The lid maybe designed with an O-ring to provide an additional seal around theinside of the glass.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show perspective and side views, respectively, of a foodcontainer 100 in one embodiment. The food container 100 includes aprotective outer sleeve 110 surrounding a glass container 120, and a lid130 covering a top opening of container 120. The sleeve 110 covers someor all of the side walls, and some or all of the bottom surface of glasscontainer 120. The sleeve 110 includes latches 140 that can be movedfrom an open, uncoupled position to a locked position. In the embodimentof FIGS. 1 and 2, latch 140 is bent upward to secure the lid 130,preventing leakage from container 120. Incorporation of a securingmechanism into sleeve 110, instead of lid 130, enables the use of awider range of materials for lid 130, while the sleeve 110 may befabricated from other materials suitable for its function as aprotective sleeve. For example, sleeve 110 may have flexible,stretchable, heat-resistant or other characteristics that are differentfrom lid 130. Thus, the design of container 100 as shall be describedherein enables a glass container to be secured and sealed with a lid,using safe, durable plastics and other materials.

Sleeve 110 may be made of, for example, silicone, and is designed to fitsnugly on the outer surface of container 120. That is, the sleeve fitstightly enough such that some amount of force must purposely be appliedto remove sleeve 110 from container 120. For example, a user may berequired to peel or stretch the sleeve 110 off of container 120 in orderto remove it. A user may be required to apply an intentional force toseparate sleeve 110 from container 120, rather than, for example,container 120 being easily lifted out of sleeve 110. In someembodiments, sleeve 110 and container 120 may have an interference fit.In other embodiments, sleeve 110 and container 120 may have a slidingfit, but with close enough sizing that the surface friction of sleeve110 requires a user to apply force to insert or remove container 120. Infurther embodiments, the container 120 may have a draft angle along itsside walls and the sleeve 110 may have a matching draft angle. In yetother embodiments, container 120 may have a draft angle along its sidewalls while sleeve 110 has vertical side walls with no draft angle, toassist in achieving a tight fit on the container 120.

The sleeve 110, container 120 and lid 130 may be provided as a system,with the sleeve 110 being pre-mounted on the container 120. However, thesleeve 110 may also be removed from container 120 if desired, and placedback on container 120 by stretching the sleeve 110 and sliding it backonto container 120. The snug fit of sleeve 110 around container 120helps to ensure that the sleeve 110 will remain on container 120 toprotect it at all times, even when being transported, washed, orotherwise manipulated.

Using glass as the material that will contact food provides advantagesover other materials. For example, plastic containers are more resilientthan glass in terms of breakage, but can contain potentially harmfulchemicals. Stainless steel containers may be potentially coated withharmful materials and are likely to add a metallic taste to food ordrink. Protective carrying bags or cases for glass containers are knownin the art, but these protective items are not designed as part of thecontainer product and thus can be lost or misplaced or can easily slipoff the container, leaving the container unprotected. These protectiveitems are also often used to provide insulative properties and are madeof materials that must be cleaned separately from the glass container.In the food container 100 described herein, the sleeve 110 and container120 are designed as a unit, so that they can remain together during thevarious phases of use. The sleeve 110 and glass container 120 aredishwasher safe, oven safe, freezer safe and microwave safe, withouthaving to remove the protective sleeve.

FIG. 3 illustrates a top view of the container 100, in which the lid 130and latches 140 are shown. Latches 140 are coupled to the sleeve 110,near the upper rim of sleeve 110. In some embodiments, latches 140 areintegrally formed with the sleeve 110, extending approximatelyperpendicularly to the surface of sleeve 110. In such embodiments, thelatches pivot by being pulled upward and stretched to engage lid 130. InFIG. 3 the latches 140 are shown in an open position, uncoupled to lid130. The lid 130 has receiving features, configured as slots 135 in thisembodiment, to engage latches 140 when the latches 140 are pivotedupward. For example, latches 140 may snap into slots 135.

Latches 140 may have a neck portion 142 (FIGS. 1-2) that fits into slots135, and an outer tab portion 144. The outer tab portion 144 may beconfigured to have a large enough surface area to prevent the latch 140from slipping out of slot 135 and to facilitate a user grasping onto it.The slots 135 are configured here to be linear, to receive the latches140 which are configured as flat tabs. However, in other embodiments,other shapes for latches 140 and slots 135 are possible. For example,latches 140 may be configured as a C-shaped handle to assist a user incarrying the container 100 in addition to serving as a locking element.In such an embodiment, the lid 130 may have two receiving elementsrather than a single slot on its edge, to receive the two ends of thehandle-shaped latch. The slots could be circular, square, or a cutout ofanother shape according to the cross-sectional shape of the handle.

Latches 140 in the embodiment of FIG. 3 are located near an upper rim ofsleeve 110 so that they are close in proximity to lid 130. In otherembodiments, latches 140 may be away from the upper rim of the sleeve,such as mid-way along the side wall of sleeve 110 or extending from thebottom surface of the sleeve. In yet other embodiments, latches 140 neednot pivot upward but may, for example, be moved by pulling or stretchingit upward to be inserted into the receiving feature of the lid. Forinstance, a latch may be configured as a rod extending vertically fromthe side wall or from the upper edge of the sleeve. The rod may have aball or tab at its end that the user may grasp onto extend the rodupward to place it into a receiving groove in the lid.

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the container 100, showingglass container 120 with sleeve 110 on its outer surface, and lid 130covering glass container 120. Lid 130 has a depressed center that formsa lip 132 on its underside, where the lip 132 contacts the interior wall122 of container 120. By lid 130 contacting the interior wall 122 ofcontainer 120, the contents inside container 120 are securely preventedfrom leakage. The indented center of lid 130 also keeps the contentsaway from the upper opening of the container 120, which can also help toprevent leakage. A sealing element such as a gasket or O-ring 150 may beincluded with lid 130, to provide further sealing between lid 130 andcontainer 120. In this embodiment, O-ring 150 is seated within a groove136 in lip 132. O-ring 150 may be made of, for instance, rubber or othersuitable materials designed to withstand the same temperatures andconditions as lid 130, glass container 120 and sleeve 110.

In this embodiment, latch 140 is formed integrally with and of the samematerial as sleeve 110, where sleeve 110 is a pliable material such assilicone. The pliability of the material allows sleeve 110 to be snuglyfit onto container 120, and also allows latch 140 to pivot with respectto sleeve 110. In other embodiments, latch 140 may be a separatecomponent that is pivotally coupled to sleeve 110, where sleeve 110 isstill made of the pliable material and latch 140 may be, for example, adifferent material hingedly coupled to sleeve 110.

Because lid 130 is used primarily as a cover and not as a securingmechanism onto glass container 120, the material for lid 130 is notrequired to have a flexibility to enable it to snap onto the container120. For example, the perimeter 134 of lid 130 may have a bottom surfacethat lies in a substantially planar fashion over the opening of glasscontainer 120 without needing a U-shaped lip, as in conventionalcontainer lids, to secure it over the edge of glass container 120. Lid130 may be made of a relatively hard plastic such as polypropylene ornylon, which are materials that are free of, for example, phthalates orbisphenol-A. Plastic food container lids known in the art typicallyrequire softer materials that are flexible enough to snap directly ontothe container, which allows the ability for the lid to seal to acontainer but results in flimsy and less safe materials. In contrast, byincorporating the latches 140 into sleeve 110, the lid 130 does not needto flex and conform over the edge at the opening of glass container 120.That is, lid 130 does not provide the securing mechanism to container120. Instead, sleeve 110 is used to provide the mechanism to secure lid130 onto container 120. Thus, lid 130 may be a higher durometer materialthan the durometer of sleeve 110. Harder durometer plastics can be usedfor lid 130, making lid 130 durable against, for example, breakage frommechanical stresses or deformation from thermal stresses. The sleeve 110may be of the same or different material as lid 130, chosen for itsdesired properties as a protective sleeve. The ability of the lid 130 tobe made of a stiffer material, absent of a pre-formed securingmechanism, may be further assisted by the use of O-ring 150.

In some embodiments, lid 130 may be fabricated from food-safe materials,where the O-ring 150 provides a seal with the interior of the container120 to prevent leakage. Materials for lid 130 include polymers such aspolypropylene, nylon, high-density polyethylene and low-densitypolyethylene; metals such as stainless steel, anodized aluminum andenameled steel; silicone; glass; bio-plastics; wood, such as bamboo; andceramic. Materials for sleeve 110 include silicone, thermoplasticelastomers (e.g., Santoprene®), polychloroprene (e.g., Neoprene), felt(natural or man-made), leather, latex rubber, heat-resistant fabrics,and polyester films capable of serving as a heat shield (e.g., Mylar®).

FIG. 5 shows a cross-sectional view of container 100 with latches 140 intheir locked position, where the latches 140 are pivoted upward toengage with lid 130. FIG. 6 shows a side view of FIG. 5, with thelatches 140 in their locked position. As can be seen, the seating oflatches 140 in slots 135 provides the mechanism to hold lid 130 ontocontainer 120, whereas the planar perimeter 134 (FIG. 5) of lid 130simply rests on top of container 120. That is, the latches 140 of sleeve110 provide the locking between lid 130 and container 120, rather thanfeatures of the lid 130 itself being used to secure to glass container120.

FIG. 7 shows an additional perspective view of container 100. Sleeve 110may be designed with one or more openings 112 that are through-holes.These openings 112 allow a user to see the contents within the container120, and also enable water drainage between the sleeve 110 and container120 during washing. Thus, the openings 112 enable the sleeve 110 toremain on the container 120 during all stages, from food preparation,through cooking, and washing. The openings 112 allow the use of anopaque material for sleeve 110, such as silicone, while still allowingvisual access when sleeve 110 is on container 120. Visual access allowsa user to ascertain the contents inside the food container, and toassess cleanliness of the container while washing. FIG. 8 is a bottomview of the container 100, showing that the bottom surface of sleeve 110has a large opening 114 in this embodiment, to further facilitatedrainage of water during washing and to allow visual access. Sleeve 110still covers a portion 116 of the bottom of glass container 120, such asthe periphery in FIG. 9, to provide protection for the glass. Coveringat least a portion of the bottom surface of the glass container 120 alsoenables sleeve 110 to serve as a trivet, such as when container 110 isbeing used to serve hot food.

Although sleeve 110 has side walls that are patterned with an arraycircular holes in these embodiments, other shapes and patterns ofopenings are possible. Furthermore, the quantity and sizes of openingsmay vary. Other features may also be molded on the outer surface ofsleeve 110 to enhance the ability of a user to grip the surface. In theembodiments of the present disclosure, exemplary raised bumps 113 areincorporated onto the sleeve 110 to provide a gripping area. Text orimages may also be incorporated into the sleeve, such as to illustrateinstructions for the user, or logos.

FIG. 9 provides a side view of another embodiment of a food container200 in which sleeve 210 has a thicker band 215 at its upper edge,compared to the thickness of the remainder of sleeve 210. Band 215provides increased tension, to deter sleeve 210 from sliding offcontainer 220. Latches 240 also have increased thickness in thisembodiment, compared to latches 140 of the previous figures. Theincreased thickness can provide higher durability and/or improvedsecuring of lid 230 to container 220.

FIG. 10 shows a top perspective view of the food container 200, showingadditional features of the lid 230. In this embodiment, lid 230 has araised edge 232 around a top surface of its perimeter. Raised edge 232may assist in retaining latch 240 in slot 235 by providing an additionalsurface to catch latch 240. Raised edge 232 may be present around theentire perimeter of lid 230, or just a portion near the slot 235. Lid230 also has a raised track 260 within its depressed central area thatenables another food container 200 to be stacked on top of the lid 230.For example, track 260 may be a circular ring sized to fit into opening114 of FIG. 8.

While the specification has been described in detail with respect tospecific embodiments of the invention, it will be appreciated that thoseskilled in the art, upon attaining an understanding of the foregoing,may readily conceive of alterations to, variations of, and equivalentsto these embodiments. These and other modifications and variations tothe present invention may be practiced by those of ordinary skill in theart, without departing from the scope of the present invention, which ismore particularly set forth in the appended claims. Furthermore, thoseof ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the foregoingdescription is by way of example only, and is not intended to limit theinvention.

1-19. (canceled)
 20. A food container comprising: a glass containerhaving a bottom surface, side walls and a top opening; a lid capable ofcovering the top opening of the glass container, wherein the lid has aperimeter that is absent of features directly securing the lid to thecontainer, and wherein the lid has a receiving feature near or on theperimeter; and a protective sleeve capable of covering at least aportion of the side walls and at least a portion of the bottom surfaceof the glass container, and wherein the protective sleeve comprises alatch; wherein the latch is configured to move from an open position toa locked position, wherein the latch is uncoupled from the receivingfeature in the open position, and wherein the latch engages only thereceiving feature of the lid in the locked position; wherein theprotective sleeve comprises a stretchable first material having a firstdurometer, wherein the lid comprises a second material having a seconddurometer, and wherein the second durometer is higher than the firstdurometer.
 21. The food container of claim 1 wherein the latch comprisesthe first material and is integral with the protective sleeve.
 22. Thefood container of claim 1 wherein the latch stretches to engage thereceiving feature.
 23. The food container of claim 1 wherein the latchis a tab extending from the protective sleeve.
 24. The food container ofclaim 1 wherein the receiving feature is a slot on the perimeter of thelid, and wherein the latch is a flat tab configured to fit into theslot.
 25. The food container of claim 1 wherein the first materialcomprises silicone, and wherein the second material comprisespolypropylene.
 26. The food container of claim 1 wherein the protectivesleeve fits snugly around the glass container such that an intentionalforce must be applied to separate the protective sleeve from the glasscontainer.
 27. The food container of claim 1 wherein the protectivesleeve comprises a plurality of openings, wherein the openings enablevisual access through the glass container.
 28. The food container ofclaim 1 wherein the lid has a depressed central area forming a lip on anunderside of the lid, the lip being coupled to an interior wall of theglass container when the lid is placed on the glass container; andwherein the food container further comprises a sealing element seated inthe lip of the lid, the sealing element providing a seal between the lidand the interior wall of the glass container when the lid is placed onthe glass container.